Evolution of Everything
by Aerafiel
Summary: Earl attempts to create a team more famous than Team Rocket ever was. He and his girlfriend Margot form Team Em and run into Stella, a trainer who despises everything they stand for. T for language stuff, title changed from temp. "Earl" to present title.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, I haven't written fanfiction for quite a while, but I suddenly felt like writing it tonight. I'll probably write another chapter or two of this, but won't write any more unless I get some reviews. Good or bad, whatever. I'd appreciate it if you took the time to just write a bit of response, thank you.**

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All was quiet on the streets at night, except for the lone footsteps of a man in a dark jacket. He wore a tight black hat that hugged most of his head, with a blue insignia on the front. His face was rough, and it looked like he had been trying to grow a beard, but had chickened out and shaved it, and missed a few hairs. He looked like a mess to any other stranger.

A howling pierced the silence and took the stranger by surprise. He stopped short and turned around, eyes narrowed. A silhouette of a Pokémon had its head raised to the moon on the sidewalk. It howled again, and the man stepped closer to it. It was a Poochyena, young and sprightly. In mid-howl, the man kicked it shamelessly.

The grey furball squeaked in pain, then growled at the darkened man. Uncaring, he reached down and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck, and kept walking. The poor thing kept biting the air in a desperate attempt to crunch through the man's fingers, but to no avail.

The man shook it a few times, and it stopped trying to bite. It was small, and easy to control. The man smiled grimly.

He kept walking, Pokémon in hand, and reached a shady, run down building. He pushed the pull door before realizing his mistake, rectified it, and continued through the grey pathway into the abandoned warehouse. The man personally believed that all evil hideouts should be made in abandoned warehouses.

"Ey, you there?" The man called out in the darkness. His voice echoed for a moment, and there was no response for a heart stopping ten seconds. It was still creepy at night, even for him. But then a yelp came back from the ceiling.

"Yeah, where the hell were you?" A woman's voice shouted back.

"Taking my walk, as usual." The man replied smoothly.

"Dammit, Earl, do you really have to take a walk every fucking night?" The woman hissed.

"Yes, yes I do." Earl said simply, and then cleared his throat. "I did bring back a catch though. You can have it this time, I have to catch some sleep, not Pokémon."

"Great, just leave it in the cage on the desk, I'm busy at the moment." She ordered, and shut up. Earl threw the Poochyena in said cage and sat down on the rickety chair nearby. He let out an exaggerated sigh before calling upwards again.

"What exactly are you doing, Margot?" Earl asked nonchalantly.

"Documenting the amount of time you've spent away from the hideout every night, how much it has affected our time together, and our profits this month." Margot replied in a sardonic matter.

"What profits?"

"You know as well as I do that it's a big fat zero."

"Eh… you never know." Earl sighed, and spun around in his chair. Footsteps came down from the warehouse staircase. He spun the chair towards them to see Margot.

Margot had thick, red hair that contrasted against Earl's dark, black hair. It was short, only down to her shoulders. She wore lipstick almost every hour of the day, except in the shower. She also liked to wear dresses, even when it was unnecessary. At the moment she was wearing a dress that matched her hair. Her eyes were a bright blue. Earl's were grey.

"So? What do you think?" Margot twirled around on the steps, and then rushed down them.

"Fine." Earl sniffed.

"What? You don't like it?" Margot asked, a bit hurt. She twirled again for extra effect, but that only made Earl sigh. "What's your problem?"

"Nothing… just, we'll never get to be better than Team Rocket at this rate, Margot. We need more on our workforce. Ten kids ain't gonna cut it." Earl explained in exasperation. The Poochyena in the cage was whining. "Shut up!" It quieted.

"Want me to take care of that for you, Earl?" Margot asked, more of a statement than a question, already making her way towards the cage.

"Yeah, shut that thing up for good." He grunted, spinning the chair away from her. Margot did her jobs quick and clean, but he preferred not to watch for some reason. He heard Margot skillfully flip her hidden knife out of her dress, and heard the gurgle of the beast's last breath before it fell into the darkness. "Now get rid of it before it stinks up the place."

"Yeah, yeah. Keep your hat on, Earl." Margot said dryly, stuffing the Pokémon in a garbage bag before heading out the back entrance of the warehouse. Earl contemplated whether he should start Plan A tomorrow, or then and now. Plan A was Earl's first agenda of Team Em, Earl+Margot. Margot wanted her initial to be first, but Earl pointed out that then it would be Team Me, which would sound a bit awkward, so she complied.

The rest of the team didn't care that the name was made from their initials, and frankly, Earl didn't even make it up, Margot did. He wasn't in the mood to argue with his girlfriend over something stupid like that, so he let it be. Team Em sounded fine anyway.

Plan A would be the start of Team Em, officially. Maybe it would even get a lot of publicity. When Margot walked back in, Earl spun his chair around to her, grinning.

"What? Did you think of something?" Margot asked with surprise, seeing the devilish look on Earl's face. She smiled in delight without even knowing what it was.

"Yes, I did. You'll have to fetch the bodies, Margot. It's time for Plan A." Earl finished, leaning back in the spinning chair until it fell against the floor, leaving Earl cursing and walking back to his room upstairs to think a bit more.


	2. Chapter 2

**Read and review, thank you!

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Stella Lorren was lying back on a lawn chair in her backyard, sipping a glass of lemonade that her mother's Machamp had brought out for her. She uttered a brief thanks to him and clinked her glass against his. The Machamp gulped down the lemonade in one swig and went back inside the house.

With a sigh, Stella put her glass down on the grass and sat up. She glared at Machamp's back as he went inside the house and changed rooms through the sliding door. She and the buff Pokémon were in a small fight, each annoyed at the other tendencies around the house. That was usual, though, but Stella's mother thought it was cute. After all, there's a fine line between love and hate, she'd always say. The two of them had that sort of teasing relationship.

With Machamp gone, Stella decided she could spend a bit more time with her favorite Pokémon. She glanced around the yard, which was full of Pokémon, some wild and some hers, and her face lit up when she spotted a Pachirisu eating berries from her mother's prized Oran berry bush.

"Pachi!" Stella cried out, not leaving her seat. The Pachirisu turned around dashed to the lawn chair. It chattered in Stella's ear excitedly.

Stella picked Pachi up and cradled her in her arms. "Hehe, you're not supposed to eat from mother's prized Oran berry bush!" she scolded lightly, not caring herself. Pachi licked its lips unconsciously and hopped down to the ground.

The lean girl stared up at the sun with a hand over her eyes. "It's a nice day out, huh? Let's go for a walk." She lifted her legs over the side of the lawn chair and stood up to stretch. She was of average height, five feet, three inches. Sixteen years of age.

She yawned as she stretched and then looked down at Pachi. Pachi was staring up at Stella expectantly. Stella slipped on a pair of flip flops that were lying around and walked across the grass to the patio space. A leather handbag was perched next to a stone water fountain, mocking the faux fur wallet that lay on the grass that belonged to Stella's mother.

Stella picked up the leather handbag and motioned for Pachi to follow her. She walked past the sliding door and down the carpeted hallway. Machamp was watching TV in the living room, and Stella looked the other way. She couldn't believe the things her mother would do to insult her. Machamp didn't even like TV. He probably bitched to Stella's mother and she told him to steal Stella's TV time. But Stella tried not to let it affect her; she was going out with Pachi.

The two of them went out the front door and walked down the cracked summer sidewalk. Kids were playing in the street with garden hoses stretched to the last bit of rubber, and a serious looking man in a business suit was sweating insanely as he dashed down the street towards his car. Stella's street was pretty quiet, most of the time. It was one of those side streets so not many cars went down it.

Stella waved to the kids playing in the water and kept walking. She glanced at her wrist where the sun shone piercing light onto her watch. "Right on time…" she muttered under her breath, and quickened her pace. Pachi followed along at her ankles.

And right on time she was. Just as she turned the corner towards a quaint area with a park, she saw him. He was there every afternoon at the same time every day. Stella wondered if he was ever there at another time of the day, and where he was when he wasn't at the park. She figured he was homeless, as he was always badly shaven. He looked young though, maybe in his twenties or early thirties.

Stella walked up to him casually and sat down on the bench he was sitting at. He hardly looked up. Today was the day, she thought, that she would finally speak to him.

"Um, hi." Stella said quickly, letting Pachi crawl onto her lap. The man looked up at her. He looked down at Pachi, and then looked away again.

"Go away." He mumbled.

"What's your name?" Stella didn't back down. She figured she could try being the annoying brat type, and that might get something out of him.

"Get the hell away from me." The man growled, stood up, and walked away. Stella scrambled up off the bench and tailed him. Pachi squeaked along at her feet.

"Wait! I only want to know your name. I see you every day here at the park, and I wondered maybe if you were homeless or something… oh sorry I didn't mean to say that! I just meant, um…" Stella blurted out, failing miserably at being stealthy about it, but gained a check on the annoying brat scale.

"Earl. Mr. Wavers to you. Now, get outta my way." Earl hissed, and picked up his pace, holding himself back from kicking the blue creature that chittered away at his heels. He liked to feel his boot hit soft, warm fur. It gave him comfort, in a way.

"Mr. Wavers… okay, um, I won't bother you anymore! Come on, Pachi." Stella mumbled, picking her Pokémon up just before Earl lost his nerves. She walked back in the opposite direction, taking in the experience.

Earl only grouched about it to Margot later.

With a skip in her step, Stella was already planning to talk to him again at another date. Her mind was up in the clouds, thinking about homeless men and benches when she knocked into something cold, and flailed her arms in apology.

"Ah, I'm so sorry… oh," Stella began, but quickly realized she was apologizing to a pole. Laughter erupted from behind her, and Stella went red. She turned to see a little girl laughing her head off at Stella. Pachi hissed in annoyance at the small girl, and wrapped around Stella's legs in a move of comfort.

"Haha lady! You ran into a pole! What kind of trainer does that?" The little girl giggled, pointing to Pachi. "My Azurill knows I would never do something stupid like that!" A bouncing blue ball of energy hopped up from behind her, squealing in its own tongue.

"Want to battle on that?" Stella's voice grew cold, taking her job as a trainer seriously. She would be teased by her mother constantly on this factor the most, and she was always ready to prove people wrong, even if it was just a little girl.

"Sure thing, lady! My Azurill would beat your stupid Pachirisu any day!" The girl stuck out her tongue in defiance. Her Azurill charged forward at Pachi, who nimbly dodged the mediocre move.

"Agility." Stella said coolly, and Pachi raced forward and batted Azurill's tail. Azurill bounced backwards in pain.

"Pachi, use Spark!" Stella commanded before the little girl could even respond with a move, and her prized Pokémon rushed in for the fainting move. The Azurill went down in an instant. A crowd had gathered to watch the small battle, and cheered momentarily before leaving. The little girl looked in tears, and Stella approached her.

"It's okay. You had an obvious type disadvantage. Maybe when you're older, you can carry a few more Pokémon on you and defeat me." Stella comforted her. The little girl sniffled and looked up, eyes wide. She opened her mouth to say something, but kicked Stella in the shin and ran.

Stella cursed loudly at the little girl, vowing not to let that slide, and Pachi bit the escaping wounded Azurill for effect. With annoyance, the two of them huffed off back home. Machamp was still watching TV, a bit saddened.

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"Really?" Was all Margot had to say when Earl explained his afternoon trip to the park. She had cooled off from last night when she criticized him for going out every day and night.

"Yeah. Crazy girl. How many skins have you done so far?" Earl asked, changing the subject.

"Only a couple. It's hard and dirty work, ya know? Why don't you do a few and see how you like it? They smell disgusting too. I'm taking a break right now." Margot said in a stream of words.

"Great, great… I'll get on that." Earl sighed and turned around. "Where are the bodies? In the back?" Margot nodded and he went to fetch the dark plastic garbage bag which held bodies of at least thirty Pokémon. Earl donned a pair of gloves before reaching into the bag.

"Could you do that somewhere else? It smells like shit." Margot commented, petting a furry skin she had removed earlier and put on the desk.

"Too bad, it'd smell back there anyway." Earl retorted, placing a corpse on the floor. It was a Raticate. He began work with a scalpel and a few surgical tools and scraped its organs out into a clear baggy. Margot held her nose and shuffled through papers on the desk.

It took Earl a good twenty minutes to scrape the majority of innards from the body without wrecking the skin. He took a few more minutes washing the skin out and sewing the skin back up. He threw the see through baggy in a dark garbage bag with other baggies of guts in it, and went to wash his hands.

"Why are you stopping, Earl? I did like, a billion corpses, and you did one! Not fair." Margot complained, but Earl ignored her.

"I'll do more later. I need a nap." Earl insisted and headed upstairs.

"Nap my ass! You take way too many naps, in my opinion, and…" Margot shouted, but Earl tuned her out and drifted away into dreamland, dreaming of zombie Pokémon and bags of organs.


	3. Chapter 3

Margot sat at the rickety chair downstairs and was skinning more Pokémon for Plan A. She ripped the beak off of a Pidgey, declawed a Glameow, and even had to saw off a Stantler's horns.

"Where the… hell did he… get a Stantler?" Margot grumbled, pausing to take breaths as she struggled to remove its innards. After cleaning and finishing up the Stantler, she threw her hands up into the air with pleasure. There were no more Pokémon left in the garbage bag, which meant her job was done. Earl was out on a walk, however, so she decided to do a bit of housework. Even with this gruesome job ahead, Margot still found the time to be neat. She wrote in a daily planner, kept a calendar chart of events, and had a handy address book with all current Team Em members in it. She decided to make a few calls.

"Hello? It's Margot. We've finished the job, tonight is the night. We'll get back to you later on the time… yeah, we'll have a party afterwards, shut up."

Margot repeated the call ten times to each current member of Team Em besides her and Earl. She even called an ex-friend of hers in Team Rocket and left a boasting voicemail. She just loved to rub it in her face that now she had a "deliciously evil" boyfriend and a greater force than Team Rocket will ever had. The last part was a bit of a lie, but she knew it would come true eventually. After all, Team Rocket was the worst bunch of crooks anyone had ever put together. They called sunglasses and a beard a great disguise, and were never able to hold on to their Pokémon for more than ten minutes before someone took them back.

Margot had big plans for Team Em, though. Pokémon weren't just an annoyance that were only made to be sold and enslaved, they were revolting creatures that needed to be killed. Margot sincerely believed that Pokémon were rubbish, and that humans were the only decent race on the planet. Although it was gruesome work, she somewhat enjoyed skinning the furry corpses in the garbage bag. She knew the furs would be sold and made into coats, hats, scarves, etc. It would be a wonderful addition to the current fashion trend; Pokémon Fur Coats. Just lovely.

She could just imagine wearing a Pikachu fur coat with a matching Jolteon skin hat. It would be an electrifying sight, pardon the pun.

Margot waltzed with Earl in her imagination, at a fancy ball of Team Em followers only. The chandeliers were made of the teeth of Sharpedos, and her shoes were purely Slowking hat material. Margot danced on the floor with her arms out, her eyes closed, envisioning the ballroom before her.

And then she knocked into the wall, and the vision crumbled down. But it was still in her memory, and Margot was now determined to make it happen.

She left Earl a note about her plans for a ballroom and decided to go out as well. Margot figured she would get more bright ideas like the ballroom if she was outside in the fresh air.

The first thing she saw as she walked outside was a trainer and his Pokémon. Margot bit her lip and ignored him. A Ninetails walked proudly ahead of the boy, while a Lairon walked behind him. The massive steel Pokémon tried its hardest not to get in the way of the street. Margot couldn't help but stare at it as it walked past, and they caught eyes for a moment. Margot lowered her head in fear of its blood red eyes and rough, powerful legs. It could kill her easily. She backed into the warehouse wall, earning an odd glance from the boy before he disappeared from view with his Pokémon.

Margot found that she was holding her breath, and quickly released it and looked around for spying eyes. No one. She continued on her walk.

And now the ballroom was mixed with not a hope but an old memory. Now in the ballroom was a raging Dragonite, shooting lasers from its mouth and tearing the building down. Its tail hit hard and Margot flew to the ground, injured. She was five again, crying her eyes out. And the young savior was there again, the boy reached his hand out, and Margot accepted it. The Dragonite charged, and Margot was flying. But the boy caught her, and they were relatively unharmed. Screams surrounded the area. The ballroom's soft colors turned into a mess of darkness and rock. The boy motioned for Margot to run with him, and she did. They hid in a bush. The boy mouthed his name, Earl. Margot mouthed hers. The Dragonite roared, not stopping its rampage. Pokémon Rangers had arrived at the scene, and one had found them. "They're alive!" Margot heard the Ranger shout, and everything was a blur.

She was being carried by the Ranger, away from the Dragonite. Earl followed the Ranger on foot. Margot looked over the Ranger's soldier, and saw a black, empty space. It was a hole in the memory. She had blocked it out, not willing to remember the sight, but she knew what it was. Memory Margot howled with tears, and the Dragonite flew away into the sky, the Rangers unable to stop it.

Earl and Margot both suffered the same fate in loss, so they stuck together. Margot's memory was clouded of times past this, but she was never the same. Pokémon were all evil, like that Dragonite from the past.

Margot erased the banished ballroom from her mind and kept walking.

Earl was standing on the sidewalk a ways away from the Team Em warehouse, staring up at the top of a building. "Too short…" He muttered, and walked down the block.

"Much too tall…" Earl sighed as he looked at another building, and walked back in the previous direction. There was a good sized building somewhere back there, he knew it.

It was a decently tall brick red building with a perfect flat roof and trap door into its attic. Earl was already planning in his head how to escape without getting caught and make a smooth getaway. He didn't really have much for that plan, though. He knew it was all movie tactics, but it was worth a shot, right?

Earl entered the building, a small shop of knick-knacks, and peered inside. The width of the building was small, but he assumed its height was because there was a loft upstairs for the store owner. An elderly man was standing behind the shop counter. Earl almost felt bad about what he was going to do with the man's building, but he washed those thoughts away with the excuse that no one was going to be harmed. It was all for the sake of the human race. He put on his best smile and approached the man.

"Hello Sir, I'm from the, um, store inspection… building organization of… yeah, so, I need to inspect your apartment upstairs for rodents. I've received, um, complaints. Oh, I'm a health inspector! Yes, I need to make sure this place isn't infested with Pokémon such as Raticate and the like…" Earl stumbled through his sentences, but the old man didn't seem to notice.

"Oh… sure thing, but I don't think there's any…" The man said with a sigh, and hobbled towards the stairs. Earl cut ahead of the man and reached the loft. It was a small apartment, a bed was shoved into the corner near a table with only one chair, and the only other furniture was a fridge and a stove. "Poor guy probably never gets any business." Earl mumbled to himself, and looked upwards towards the ceiling. A knob caught his attention.

"May I, uh, check the roof? There may be rodents up there…" Earl called down to the shopkeeper, who gave him approval. Earl twisted the ceiling nob and a rope ladder fell from the square in the tiles. He climbed up to the top of the building and took a deep breath.

Earl inched his way over to the edge of the building on his stomach, not wanting to attract attention just yet by standing. It seemed the perfect height. Earl inched back to the trap door and jumped down to the loft.

"Everything seems to be okay, Sir, but I may have to check back tomorrow."

"Oh, alright. Could I get your name? Mines Jacobs. Mr. Jacobs." The old man asked, and Earl replied quickly.

"Earl. Earl Wavers." Earl said, mentally slapping himself for making the same mistake twice. He was trying not to give out his name, but he supposed it wouldn't matter once he announced it to the world anyway. If the shitty cops couldn't catch Team Rocket, they wouldn't be able to catch Team Em.

"I'll be expecting you tomorrow then. My granddaughter will be here with me. Bye bye." Mr. Jacobs waved his sickly old man hand as Earl raced out the door.

Earl decided to head back to Team Em HQ and make final preparations for Plan A with Margot. However, he ran into her, literally, on the sidewalk.

"Margot! I thought you hated taking walks." Earl chided after recollecting himself.

"I just needed some time away from the broken corpses." Margot rolled her eyes. The two of them turned back to the direction of HQ and walked.

"I've picked out the building and it's all ready for us tomorrow. You remember the drill, right?" Earl confirmed, and his girlfriend nodded. "Great. Let's go set everything up."

"Ah, yes. And um, Earl?" Margot's voice dropped to a whisper.

"Yes?"

"Thanks… for all this." She smiled genuinely. Earl blinked, and gave her a hug.

"It's fine. We're going to do this, for the both of us. We'll change the world and rid it of vicious Pokémon like Dragonite." Earl said soothingly, feeling Margot's hair with his cheek. "And one day I'll find that Dragonite, and give it what it deserves."

"Of course." Margot mumbled. They shared quick kiss and continued walking in silence.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey, read and review please!~ Enjoy this chapter, my longest so far. Longer ones soon to come!**

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Stella was just finishing helping her Pachirisu apply the finishing touches to a passive aggressive note towards Machamp, who insisted on leaving messes everywhere he went. Machamp didn't have to spell it out for Stella though, she knew her mother probably set him up to it, but she couldn't let it slide. Her mother would end up seeing the note anyway.

"Great job Pachi, think you're in the mood for battle practice now?" Stella asked, as she had wanted to do such for a while. Pachi nodded, figuring she wouldn't get out of it. The two walked to the park and scoured the park for trainers.

Stella spotted an elderly man speaking aloud. He had a Gallade with him, which moved gracefully and was attacking a tree. The Gallade didn't use any moves, it only kicked and punched the tree to the man's words. And then the man stopped, and Gallade stopped. The elderly man seemed to be praising the Gallade, and then they walked away as if nothing happened.

"Hey! You! Guy!" Stella called out, running towards them. Pachi followed at her heels as usual. The man turned.

"Hm? How can I help you?" He smiled feebly.

"I just wanted to say that I saw you and your Gallade, and he looks pretty tough. Do you think we could have a battle? I'd like to train my Pokémon a bit more." Stella asked, motioning briefly to her Pachirisu. The man laughed.

"If you insist, but I'll warn you, my Gallade is very strong. I don't know if your Pachirisu could beat him, so don't be disappointed if you lose, Miss." He claimed, and Stella raised an eyebrow.

"The name's Stella, and you, old man?" Her demeanor changed.

"Ah, Mr. Jacobs is fine. Let's get started, eh?" The old man replied and made a gesture to Gallade, who stepped forward, looking confident.

Pachi darted forward, eager to prove the man wrong. Gallade readied its arms, and the tiny rodent sprung up into the air towards Gallade. Gallade deflected the rapid strikes as the Pachirisu continued to dash at him. Occasionally Pachi would change directions and locations, instead aiming at Gallade's feet, to which Gallade sidestepped and hopped backwards to avoid.

Stella looked up at the old man, who was making gestures with his hands. She noticed Gallade would look towards him every once and a while, receiving orders and delivering orders. A light went on.

"Mr. Jacobs, do you mind if we chatted a bit while they fight? I'd like to know a few things." Stella questioned, already making her way towards the man. She exchanged eye contact with Pachi once, and nodded briefly before turning back to Mr. Jacobs. His hand gestures lessened as she came nearer.

"Ah, sure, sure. What do you want to know?" Mr. Jacobs asked hurriedly. Stella looked at the battle out of the corner of her eye, and was pleased to see Gallade was reacting a bit slower to Pachi's moves.

"How'd you get that Gallade? I don't think I've seen you around very often, but it seems very strong. Usually the strong trainers are well-known around here." Stella questioned.

"Oh, I've had him since he was a Ralts. You haven't seen me because we normally don't like to be seen. I run a small shop at the other end of town."

"Why did you decide to take him out today?" Stella glanced over at the sparring Pokémon and saw Pachirisu was chomping on Gallade's legs. The strong Pokémon kicked in the air in return, but Pachi only jumped up and landed on his face. They only sparred, not with moves.

"Well…" Mr. Jacobs looked nervous, but Stella wasn't sure if it was because her Pachirisu was creaming his first class Gallade, or for another reason. "A suspicious man came to my shop the other day, and said he would be coming back today. I let him snoop around my apartment because there was nothing of value in it, and I don't know what his purpose was. But I will show him no mercy today. Gallade will easily overtake any Pokémon he has."

"A suspicious man?" Stella confirmed, now genuinely interested.

"Yeah. He claimed to be checking my house for rodents. I don't know what he was after, but he'll be running home for his mama today!" Mr. Jacobs seemed so excited at the thought of that that he threw his fist into the air, and Gallade thought this was a command and did the same. Pachirisu took the opening and tackled the best she could into Gallade's face, sending him off balance and tumbling to the ground. Pachi batted at his face with her paws, giggling. Stella laughed aloud.

"Well, I'll be seeing you Mr. Jacobs! It was a pleasure to see your Gallade spar." Stella said with an air of confidence, and motioned for Pachi to go along with her. The two shared a silent win and were on their way.

Mr. Jacobs helped Gallade up and sighed. "I should have known better I guess. Gallade, it would do you some good to practice without my help. After all, even if I have the brains, you're the brawn. I'm just an old man…"

Gallade gave his owner a comforting pat on the back, and they meandered off back to Mr. Jacobs' shop.

"Pachi, let's find out where Mr. Jacobs lives, okay? We can visit him and his Gallade sometime." Stella suggested, looking down at her furry friend. Pachi gave her a devilish look and Stella laughed. "And you can beat him up again."

The two began to chat as they wandered around the other side of town. Stella kept her eyes peeled for a knick knack shop, but instead saw a crowd.

A small crowd of people was gathered around a building front, whispering frantically among each other. Stella picked up Pachi and squeezed her way through the mob of humans to get to the front.

Mr. Jacobs was standing just outside a small store front, presumably his shop, Stella thought, and a man dressed in dark clothes was in front of him. Gallade had its armed raised for combat, steadying itself next to its owner.

"Mr. Jacobs! What's going on? Is the suspicious man?" Stella called out, and both Mr. Jacobs and the man in dark clothes looked up.

Stella's eyes widened and her face contorted into a snarl. It was Earl Wavers, in a dark trench coat and fedora. He did look stylish though.

"Why, isn't it the annoying brat at the park. Go home, kid." Earl spat, adjusting his trench coat with pride.

"Don't worry about it," Mr. Jacobs said quietly, "My Gallade can defeat any Pokémon he throws at us."

Earl raised an eyebrow at Mr. Jacobs' last comment, but shrugged.

"Let's take this to the roof, it's my place of business." Earl suggested, and dashed through Mr. Jacobs' store front and into his apartment before anyone could object. He appeared a moment later on the rooftop, calling down to the crowd.

"Attention! My name is Earl Wavers, and I am the head executive of Team Em," Earl began, giddy at the thought of being an executive. "My girlfriend and I are going to show you all something that we hope will change your attitude about Pokémon teams. After all, Team Rocket is horrible, so why should you fear us? Well…"

Earl threw off his trench coat and fedora, moved out of the way, and a fiery red head leaped to the top of the building. At least, it looked that way. Really Earl had set up some stepping stones behind the store, and Margot only had to make one short jump for the effect.

Margot was carrying a dark garbage bag slung over her shoulder, and she wore a red tank top and a black skirt that went to her knees. She was wearing black flats. Earl had a well built body, shown off by a dark undershirt and loose jeans. The crowd murmured amongst themselves.

"Focus!" Margot snapped, trying to continue where Earl had left off.

"Not so fast, creeps! I demand that you battle my Gallade, and if you lose, you'll leave!" Mr. Jacobs called out, his neck craned backwards to see the rooftop burglars.

Earl laughed, a genuine laugh.

"That's pretty funny, old man. Didn't we just said we're not Team Rocket? Those sissies need to get a grip and start acting harsh." Earl snapped his fingers once in an attempt to look cool, and Margot opened the garbage bag at that cue.

She threw the contents out at once at the crowd below. Stella backed up in time to not get hit by the clear baggies that were being shot out, but her grip on Pachi tightened in horror as she saw them hit the ground and break.

The concrete was a bloody mess of organs and guts. Eyeballs rolled down flat surfaces, broken hearts dripped red goop onto passerby's shoes. A few bags hit the crowd, and screams filled the air. Stella darted down the street a few yards to watch from a safe distance until the panic had subdued.

"People! We have done you a favor! This old man here is an example of the crime we wish to eliminate! Humans are obviously meant to be the dominant species on Earth, but Pokémon get in the way of that! They only exist for us to rule over, but many Pokémon are too powerful for us to rise up against, and so this happens!" Earl shouted, waving an arm over the bloody mess below him.

"We will have to kill the strong Pokémon that oppose the human race, and their numbers will dwindle!" Margot added strongly. "And we can even use their furs to make cute coats!"

Cries of outrage came up from the crowd, as many Pokémon were released from their capsules to attack. Gallade leapt into the air with strong legs and landed on the rooftop in front of Earl. He snarled at the unshaven man.

"Fight or leave!" Cries came up from the crowd again.

"H-How dare you!" A childish voice rose up, and Stella recognized it. She looked in the crowd to spot the girl who had kicked her in the shin just the previous day. Her Azurill was bouncing angrily as well.

Mr. Jacobs rushed over to the little girl and pulled her close to him. Stella made out bits of his conversation, "my granddaughter", "be careful", "stay here", etc.

Stella pushed her way through the crowd again, avoiding the spilled guts on the ground, covering her nose with Pachi's fur to hide the stench. She approached Mr. Jacobs and the little girl.

"This is your granddaughter?" Stella asked incredulously. The girl looked up in shock.

"Yes, this is Kia. Why? Have you two met?" Mr. Jacobs asked, curious.

"I guess you could say we have." Stella mumbled, deciding not to press on it further.

"Well, all of you should go home! It's dangerous here! Kia, you can come visit another day." Mr. Jacobs warned, eyeing the bloody ground nervously.

"You just said I should stay here." Kia whined, but Mr. Jacobs shushed her.

"Enough! I'm not leaving until Mr. Wavers up there sees the error of his ways." Stella countered, and moved backwards to peer up at the roof. To her utter shock, Earl was fighting Gallade himself!

Gallade darted back and forth, not sure what to do, as Earl jabbed at his sides with his own deadly arms. The green and white Pokémon made a swipe for Earl, but Earl ducked down and kicked Gallade's legs in one swoop.

Gallade tumbled backwards and off of the roof. The crowd gasped and moved frantically, but Gallade found space to land on his feet, which ached from Earl's hit.

He fell against the ground in pain, and Mr. Jacobs said soothing words to him before putting Gallade back in its Pokéball.

"Look at how much Pokémon have sickened the human race! Can none of you fight for yourselves? If you think you can defeat me, step up!" Earl hissed, and no one moved.

Kia's Azurill was squeaking away and bounced on its tail as hard as it could in anger.

"Zuzu, you'll hurt your tail!" Kia scolded, trying to control her Pokémon. The blue bouncing ball only squeaked louder, face flushed at Earl. It bounced as high as it could as Kia was coming towards it, and managed to grip the top of the roof with its tail. "Azurill!"

Earl raised an eyebrow and grabbed the tiny Pokémon by its tail. And then it screeched like a Banette as it was dangled in thin air. Kia began sobbing immediately. Stella ran into view of Earl and cupped her hands around her mouth to yell. Pachi tried to yell with her.

"Stop at once, dammit! Get your hands off of that Azurill! It can't defend for itself very well!" Stella snarled, to which Kia managed to glared at her for during her sobs.

"What if this were a Magikarp? Magikarp can't defend for themselves, but what if it evolved? There would be a monster among us! How can you not see the threats of Pokémon?" Earl demanded, shaking the Azurill.

"Pokémon are here to work together with us, we wouldn't betray them!" Stella shouted, but her cry may have gone unheard thanks to the roar of sirens. Cop cars were cruising into the area. She saw Earl flinch momentarily, but shrugged.

"These cops suck anyway, time to scram, Margot." Earl mumbled softly, and then shook the Azurill some more before reaching into his shirt and pulling out a blade.

Azurill screeched at the threatening knife, and struggled even more.

"Zuzu!" Kia screamed, and the poor Azurill looked in her direction with a new expression. A determined expression, a face of hope. With a single chirp from Azurill, she began to glow.

"It's evolving!" The crowd gasped in delight, hoping to greet the Marill to the world. Maybe evolved, Marill could do some damage to the baddies.

But Earl only held his blade out, watched the light of evolution reflect off of it, and sliced the air.

The blade did its damage swiftly.

At once there was light, but just as soon it was gone.

The beams disappeared in a howling cry, and there was nothing. Only Earl holding his hand out over the air, nothing in it, his other hand holding the blade that had swung.

Everything was silent for a moment except for the wailing cop cars. It was only a few seconds, but it seemed like a lifetime before Earl shrugged, dropped his pose, turned around, and ran.

There was so much confusion, the cops didn't even bother chasing after him.

* * *

**What just happened? A new problem and a strange, strange event. Review if you haven't, please!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I made a few things up about Pokemon evolution in this chapter, but most of the things I made up were based on Team Galactic from Platinum.**

**The end of the chapter is a few very short snippets of characters that are going to be given their own chapters later, so stay tuned.**

**R+R!  
**

* * *

"_A strange occurrence has taken place in South Capitol today, as I take you to the scene of the mystical disappearance of an evolving Pokémon, you should notice the red markings all over the ground… this has been confirmed to be the blood of many dismembered Pokémon, thrown from a plastic bag from the rooftop here…"_

Earl lowered the volume on the TV and rolled his eyes.

"…_And the strange man, apparently from 'Team Em', a new Rocket-esque team, attacked an evolving Azurill, and it disappeared. Most think it was some sort of trick, and the man had simply captured the now Marill, but it did appear as if the evolving Pokémon was erased from existence. If anyone has knowledge on these two criminals, please call…"_

Earl turned the TV off now and sat in silence for a while, listening to nothing but the running water in the shower.

To tell the truth, he wasn't sure what would happen when he sliced the Azurill as it evolved. He had only figured it would stop evolving and revert back to an Azurill, but that didn't happen. The glowing form had diffused into the air, and nothing was left.

Earl had done little research on the evolution of Pokémon, but he had been oddly curious about it. He wondered how Pokémon were able to evolve so quickly, yet humans needed generations and generations to even make the slightest of changes.

Others had figured out that Pokémon gave off a powerful energy when evolving, and that energy could be channeled to create things beyond your imagination. However, that attempt had failed.

Earl wondered what happened to the Azurill though. He didn't particularly care whether it simply died or was erased from existence, but his curiosity did get the best of him.

_Energy can't be destroyed, right? Energy is given off when a Pokémon evolves, but what happened to the Azurill?_

He sat in deep thought until Margot walked out of the shower wearing only her towel.

"Whatcha thinking about, hun?" Margot leaned over and put her arms around Earl's head.

"Nothing anymore, thanks to you." Earl grumbled, and his girlfriend playfully flicked at his head.

"I reckon we're pretty well-known now, huh? What should we do?" Margot asked, moving one of her hands to her wet hair and twirling it around her pointer finger.

"I don't know… I guess we could spread the word a bit more, make people understand so they don't have to get hurt." Earl suggested, shifting on his mattress. Margot sat down next to him. The ragged mattress was lying on the floor, there was no bed frame.

"I'm gonna go get dressed, and then let's go out to dinner."

"Not such a good idea, Margot. We shouldn't leave the warehouse."

"But you always insist that the cops are moronic!" The redhead complained, crossing her arms under her chest.

"Just in case. There could be more competent people out there than Officer Jenny." Earl scoffed, and stifled a yawn. He seemed to be sleepy every minute of being awake now.

"Would you like it if we fell asleep?" Margot teased, noticing his almost-yawn. She adjusted her towel unconsciously. Earl just eyed her lamely.

"Not now, we still have stuff to do. I think I should research that evolution energy thing…"

"Oh, fine. I'll help you out with that, but let me get dressed first." Margot sighed in defeat, but Earl leaned over and gave her a kiss.

"Thanks." He mumbled, and then leaned back on the bed. Margot smiled with glee and went to change.

* * *

"…_If anyone has knowledge on these two criminals, please call…"_

Stella zoned out, blankly staring at the wall instead of the TV. Machamp was sitting on the couch next to her, looking stressed. Pachi was on Stella's lap. After a while, Stella spoke.

"We can't just sit here and do nothing, can we? We have knowledge on the two criminals, but everyone knows the police are rather bad at their job around here." She said, and Machamp nodded in agreement.

"But what can we do about it? All those Pokémon, senselessly killed…" Stella hissed, tightening her fist. She figured the only thing that could be done was to bring Earl and Margot to justice. She looked over at Machamp. He could probably easily fight Earl one on one and win. Her mother kept a tight reign over her Pokémon though, and probably wouldn't lend Machamp out to Stella that easily. Machamp would be happy to go with Stella to beat up the crooks, but he'd be afraid of her mother if he went without permission.

The rest of Stella's mother's stellar team wouldn't even think of joining Stella. Stella didn't even know some of the Pokémon her mother had. She had asked Machamp, but he refused to tell her.

Her mother was out today anyway. Stella decided she'd laze around for a while. She shooed Pachi off of her lap and walked up to her room. Pachi stayed behind to watch TV with Machamp, who looked uncomfortable.

Stella logged on her computer and used Pokésearch to look up a few things.

She too was intrigued by what had happened to Azurill, and today would be the time to get some research done.

'Evolution', she typed in, and pressed enter. Stella clicked on the first result, bringing up a scientific site on the concepts of Pokémon evolution. She found an interesting blurb on it.

"_Many Pokémon evolve when they are in either dire need of strength, or have outgrown their current strength limitations of their form. Pokémon grow stronger even without evolving, so when they reach the maximum point, they evolve. Some Pokémon simply do not evolve, but is unknown whether some have a 'limitless strength' or just do not have the ability to change their form. Legendary Pokémon are Pokémon that have this 'limitless strength' and do not have the ability to change their forms. This is what makes a legendary Pokémon legendary."_

Stella read on a bit more.

"_For the Pokémon that do not have 'limitless strength' and just do not have the ability to change their forms, it is unlikely that they will be able to evolve in the near future. Humans evolve as well, but the human evolution takes many generations to make small changes, while Pokémon evolve rapidly. When these non-evolution Pokémon have to evolve, they will. Evolution is mainly about adapting to change, such as when a Pokémon needs to evolve to become stronger."_

"_As a Pokémon evolves, it gives off a form of energy that scientists are now calling Loose Evolution Energy, or 'LEE'. LEE is a powerful source of energy that is given off when a Pokémon raises the limits of its strength. LEE is also given off when a Pokémon levels up, but in much smaller amounts, so small that it is insignificant to anyone who wishes to harness it, in a form called LLE (acronym pronounced as 'yey'), Loose Leveling Energy. Once, there were people that attempted to harvest mass amounts of LEE for sinister purposes, and to read more on that, look up 'Team Galactic' in our search bar, and you will get more info on Team Galactic of the Sinnoh region."_

And then Stella found what she was looking for.

"_LEE is a generally unstable matter, so when a Pokémon is interrupted in its evolution, the Pokémon wills itself to stop evolving so nothing goes wrong in the process. No one is sure what would happen if a disaster would befall a Pokémon while evolving, but scientists speculate that the unstable LEE would disappear, disabling the Pokémon's ability to evolve, or worse."_

"Or worse? Death!" Stella shouted at the unmoving monitor. She turned off the computer and went back downstairs, where Pachi and Machamp were chatting in Pokémon language.

They looked up at the young girl's return, and watched expectantly.

"Come on, we're going to see mother." Stella announced with certainty, hiding any fear she may have had in the back of her head.

Machamp gave her a death glare, and Pachi turned pale. Neither was very fond of disturbing Stella's mother at work. Her mother seemed innocent enough at first, thinking everything was cute and lovely, but she was a bitch to please. And at work, she would rip someone's head off.

Machamp had been left out of today's work session, but he was used to that. Stella's mother had a lot of different trainers to deal with every day, and Machamp usually wasn't helpful.

Stella's father liked Machamp though, before her parents got a divorce. Stella was little when they got a divorce, but her feelings about it were nonchalant anyway. It was all her mother's fault for cheating, but somehow she got custody rights.

Stella saw her father on the weekends sometimes, but she wasn't very fond of his new wife or her obsession with girly Pokémon.

"Why shouldn't we? She could be a great asset in this." Stella offered, but Machamp shook his head rapidly.

"Well… okay. I guess we shouldn't disturb her at work. She'd rip my head off." Stella chuckled, but then thought about seeing her dad.

"How about Dad?" She offered to the Pokémon, and they shrugged. Pachi didn't know Stella's father too well, and Machamp was a Machop when he left.

"Well… even though they're annoying, his wife's Pokémon are pretty strong. They could help?" Stella posed her thoughts as a question, unsure herself. They sat in silence for a while before she gave up. "I guess I'll just keep my promise for today… I'll do nothing." She huffed and made room on the couch for herself, then turned on the TV and zoned out.

* * *

Meanwhile, Earl had just read the same Internet blurbs.

"LEE… Team Galactic tried to harvest it, and failed. I won't repeat their folly. However, I'll use this information to my advantage…" Earl mumbled to himself, as Margot fiddled with her own laptop.

"Earl, I just got a great idea! We should recruit Team Em followers over the Internet! If we post our ideas online, some people are bound to join us." Margot piped up, already creating a website on her laptop.

"Yeah, sure, do whatever you want. That could help." Earl replied dryly, still browsing for information on evolution.

He reread the paragraph about interrupting evolution and put his hands on his forehead.

_Azurill must have disappeared along with the LEE. The energy was probably spread into the air, and Azurill's conscious went with it._

Earl mulled it over as Margot set up Team Em's first recruitment center.

* * *

Kia sat at the window in her grandfather's store, refusing to leave.

She only stared out the window at the sunshine and happy people walking.

_Why are they happy?! Why can't it rain?! What's wrong with this twisted world?_

* * *

"Damn, I got beat again!" The man cursed, stomping the ground, ignoring his fainted Pokémon. The woman trainer he had faced just laughed, putting a hand over her mouth innocently.

"You snooze you lose, sucker. Now pay up." She removed her hand from her mouth and held it out, palm towards the distressed man. With a groan, he slapped an expensive looking bill onto her hand. The woman handed the bill to a Pokémon looming over her shoulder. The tall ghost Pokémon gave a goofy grin as it stashed the bill in an oversized wallet, and then swallowed it. The woman rolled her eyes.

"No need for the show, Dusky-poo. Round up the others, we gotta get back to work." She cooed, kissing the ghost on the cheek. The Dusknoir giggled eerily and disappeared into the air.

The woman walked off, shaking her hips, leaving the poor man all alone.


End file.
